Tomato, Green Envy

Short Description

Green when ripe, these sweet 1" long cherries fruit in abundance in clusters on indeterminate plants.

Full Description

Like no green tomato you've ever seen or tasted. This spectacular introduction, a deep shade of emerald green, is one of the greatest tomatoes we have ever bred. The meaty tangy cherry tomatoes are wondrously sweet and juicy. Edible perfection: raw, baked, grilled or sauteed. Make a distinctly different salsa and pair it with its red and green counterparts. Indeterminate plants are loaded all summer with 1" long, almost translucent oblong fruit.

Type
Some flowers and vegetables fall into subcategories that may define how they grow (such as pole or bush), what they are used for (such as slicing tomatoes or shelling peas), flower type, or other designations that will help you select the type of a class of plant that you are looking for.

Cherry

Fruit Bearing
This refers to the relative season when the plant produces fruit, or if it bears continuously or just once

Indeterminate

Days To Maturity
The average number of days from when the plant is actively growing in the garden to the expected time of harvest.

60-70 days

Fruit Weight
The average weight of the fruit produced by this product.

1 ounces

Sun
The amount of sunlight this product needs daily in order to perform well in the garden. Full sun means 6 hours of direct sun per day; partial sun means 2-4 hours of direct sun per day; shade means little or no direct sun.

Video

How to Sow and Plant

Sow tomato seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost in spring using a seed starting kit

Sow seeds ¼ inch deep in seed-starting formula

Keep the soil moist at 75 degrees F

Seedlings emerge in 7-14 days

As soon as seedlings emerge, provide plenty of light on a sunny windowsill or grow seedlings 3-4 inches beneath fluorescent plant lights turned on 16 hours per day, off for 8 hours at night. Raise the lights as the plants grow taller. Incandescent bulbs will not work for this process because they will get too hot. Most plants require a dark period to grow, do not leave lights on for 24 hours.

Seedlings do not need much fertilizer, feed when they are 3-4 weeks old using a starter solution (half strength of a complete indoor houseplant food) according to manufacturer’s directions.

If you are growing in small cells, you may need to transplant the seedlings to 3 or 4 inch pots when seedlings have at least 3 pairs of leaves before transplanting to the garden so they have enough room to develop strong roots

Before planting in the garden, seedling plants need to be “hardened off”. Accustom young plants to outdoor conditions by moving them to a sheltered place outside for a week. Be sure to protect them from wind and hot sun at first. If frost threatens at night, cover or bring containers indoors, then take them out again in the morning. This hardening off process toughens the plant’s cell structure and reduces transplant shock and scalding.

Planting in the Garden:

Select a location in full sun with good rich moist organic soil. Make sure you did not grow tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or potatoes in the bed the previous year to avoid disease problems.

Prepare the bed by turning the soil under to a depth of 8 inches. Level with a rake to remove clumps of grass and stones.

Tomatoes should be set 30-48 inches apart in a row with the rows spaced 3-4 feet apart. It can be tempting to space tomatoes more closely at planting time, but if you plant too closely you will increase the chance of disease, and decrease yields.

Dig a hole for each plant large enough to amply accommodate the root ball.

Carefully remove the plant from its pot and gently loosen the root ball with your hands to encourage good root development.

Tomatoes can be planted deeply, with the stem buried to the first set of leaves. The more deeply they are planted the more roots will form, providing the plant with additional support and better ability to take up nutrients. Some gardeners plant tomatoes by digging a horizontal trench and laying the plant in the trench with the top 2-4 inches of the plant pointing upward.

Fill the planting hole with soil to the top and press soil down firmly with your hand leaving a slight depression around the plant to hold water.

Use the plant tag as a location marker. This is particularly important if you are trying different varieties. It is very difficult to tell which variety is which from the foliage.

Water thoroughly, so that a puddle forms in the saucer you have created. This settles the plants in, drives out air pockets and results in good root-to-soil contact.

Place your plant support at this time. You can try tomato cages or staking. Unsupported plants will sprawl on the ground, require no pruning, and will probably produce a larger yield of smaller fruit than will staked plants. For larger, cleaner, more perfect fruits, support plants as they grow. Growing on stakes: Place strong stakes in the ground and set plants about 6 inches from the stakes. Growing in cages: Place a cage around a single plant; let the vines grow and enlarge within the cage, no pruning will be necessary

How to Grow

Keep weeds under control during the growing season. Weeds compete with plants for water, space and nutrients, so control them by either cultivating often or use a mulch to prevent their seeds from germinating.

Mulches also help retain soil moisture and maintain even soil temperatures. This is especially important for tomatoes as their roots may be easily damaged when weeding, and this can lead to blossom end rot.

Keep plants well-watered during the growing season, especially during dry spells. Plants need about 1-2 inches of rain per week during the growing season. Use a rain gauge to check to see if you need to add water. It's best to water with a drip or trickle system that delivers water at low pressure at the soil level. If you water with overhead sprinklers, water early in the day so the foliage has time to dry off before evening, to minimize disease problems. Keep the soil moist but not saturated.

If growing on stakes: As the plants grow, allow only one or two main stems to grow and pinch out any other side shoots as they form. Gently tie the one or two remaining shoots to the stake; don't pull them tightly against the stake. If growing in cages, no pruning is necessary.

Whether to remove the side shoots, or suckers, that grow out of the leaf axils or not depends on the support system used. Gardeners using stakes usually snap off these side shoots. They typically get earlier and larger tomatoes but overall production tends to be less. If tomatoes are grown in cages, the suckers are generally left on, although it's a good idea to pinch the tip out of them when they are 6-8 inches long. Regardless you may want to remove all the growth from the bottom 6-10 inches of the plant. This helps to improve air circulation and reduce the spread of diseases such as early blight. Wait until the plants are knee-high. In the morning when the plants have the most water in them, snap off the lower growth while it is small. Any plants that look sick with distorted foliage or have a mosaic pattern on the leaves should be removed as they may have a virus that can spread to the other plants. It is best to do this early in the season.

Monitor for pests and diseases. Check with your local Cooperative Extension Service for pest controls recommended for your area.

Harvesting and Preserving Tips

Determinate tomato plants ripen a heavy crop over a few weeks. Indeterminate varieties bear fruit continuously until frost. Remember that the days to harvest refers to the time from setting out transplants in the garden.

Pick tomatoes when they are as ripe as possible. They should be fully colored and firm and picked regularly to avoid overloading plants.

At the end of the season, when you know there will be a frost, pick all the almost-ripe tomatoes you can, and ripen them in brown bags or spread on newspapers at room temperature. Many cultivars will store for months. Store only sound fruit, at 50-60°F. Do NOT refrigerate and try to avoid having the fruit touch each other.

The foliage of tomatoes is toxic and should not be eaten.

Tomato fruits are enjoyed in many cooked dishes as a flavoring. Use them to make soups, sauces, stews, ketchup, paste, juice, quiche, and pies. Add them to curries, casseroles, and chutney.

Product Details

Type

Cherry

Fruit Bearing

Indeterminate

Days To Maturity

60-70 days

Fruit Weight

1 ounces

Sun

Full Sun

Spread

50-54 inches

Height

63-67 inches

Sow Method

Indoor Sow

Sow Time

6-8 weeks BLF

Thin

6 inches

Reviews

Tomato, Green Envy is rated
4.8 out of
5 by
7.

Rated 5 out of
5 by
BarnandGarden from
A winner for my Ratatouille Recipe!What a delicious tasting cherry tomato! A very productive plant that was heavy laden with fruit all summer long and well into the frost that came early. We have enjoyed eating them plain, added them to the soups and tomato sauce but best of all, their sweetness made my Garden Ratatouille a winner.

Date published: 2015-10-06

Rated 4 out of
5 by
jimfromliny from
Interesting and different tomatoeFirst, I would like to say these took a lot longer to ripen then the 60 days in my location and summer weather. I think the term 'green' is a bit misleading as they have a yellowish tinge when they are ripe. They are delicious, too. I pick em and eat em in the garden. The plant also stood up to the septoria and early blight that hit me. I sprayed with copper fungicide early and it seemed to contain the bad stuff quickly.
The plant gets to a nice size, but not unruly like the black krims, my favorite, does.

Date published: 2015-08-21

Rated 5 out of
5 by
SaffronKitty from
Oh boy--what a great tomato!I LOVE this variety of tomato! Although the yield of the tomato isn't as great as some of my other cherry tomatoes, it's definitely worth growing. The taste is sweet and a tad bit tart, and oh-so delicious! The hard part about growing this tomato is knowing when it's ripe. However, I've found a great way to tell--the tomatoes are ripe once they take on a hint of orange. You'll be able to tell when comparing to other tomatoes growing on the plant. It seems like it hasn't had any problems with disease or anything yet, which is another plus. Great tomato! I just wish it produced more!

Date published: 2015-07-06

Rated 5 out of
5 by
seanymph from
Green Envy is a winner!I wasn't really sure how to tell if these were ripe, so I finally just tasted one - and I was blown away! It was so sweet! The plant held up well through a cool, wet start to the summer and produced lots of fruit, even though I got a late start on planting this year. I will definitely plant this again.

Date published: 2014-10-22

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Anykka from
Excellent tastingThese are the best tasting 'mini" tomatoes we've had. They grew like crazy and produced masses of tomatoes throughout the season. The colr is interesting to add to salads an they grew to a nice large size.

Date published: 2013-03-02

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Jenny3633 from
Sweet!My whole family was so impressed with the flavor of this grape tomato. They look exactly like the picture and we all felt the flavor was sweeter and fruitier than all other cherry tomatoes--and yes we compared it against SunGold F1. My only complaint was that they cracked like crazy after the first set of ripe fruit. Not sure if it was related to the weather or not--as it was an unusually hot then cold with heavy rains type of summer. Will absolutely grow again.

Date published: 2012-01-19

Rated 5 out of
5 by
BurpeeGardenExpert from
Beautiful green tomato has tons of sweet flavor.I couldn’t believe the sweet flavor packed into this meaty little tomato! My friends raved about the beautiful presentation of Green Envy paired with Sun Gold, Black Pearl, Honey Bunch, Italian Ice, and Tumbling Tom in a veggie tray I served up.